Page 26 of Mating Season
“She’s not important. I need your help.”
Selene jerks out of my grasp and rolls her eyes. “And why should I help you?”
“We broke up three years ago! You can’t still be mad about it, and you of all people should know it wasn’t ever going to work.”
“And I told you, I could do a spell that…” I cut her off before she can re-explain her plan to block any future mate connection from forming at all, so she and I could be together—so we could cheat fate. But despite all that comes with it, I wanted a true mate.
“Selene, I found my mate.”
Her eyes narrow into slits, and I’m not entirely sure I’m going to survive the night.
“Congratulations, I’ll be sure to send a mating gift.” She starts to slam the door in my face, but then she senses it.
She turns on me like a hungry jackal, a sharp satisfied gleam in her eyes. “Uh oh… your mating isn’t completed. What happened… did she run from you, Cooper? Did you scare the poor thing with your…” she gives me a long slow once over. “… stamina? Wait… is shehuman?”
This is why we’re here. Selene may be difficult, but she’s powerful, and when she can get out of her ego for five minutes, she senses… everything.
“She’s been taken, and I need your help.”
Selene laughs. “You needmyhelp. I’m sorry, have you met me? I’m not exactly the charitable type. And I’m jealous and vengeful to boot, or did you forget that in our time apart?”
“Believe me, if I knewanyother witch, I would go to them. But I don’t. And the fact that there are enough wannabe witchesin this city to keep you in business, means I’d have to vet through a lot of humans to find an actual otherworld witch. And I don’t have time for that.”
She looks at me,reallylooks at me, and I could swear there is something like pity in her eyes. “You should have let me do that spell back when it would have worked.”
“Please, Selene, help me. You know what we had was nothing more than a good time.”
“To you, maybe.”
“Either way, it’s too late for that, and you know it. You know what will happen if I lose her, so if you ever cared for me…”
She sighs. “Fine. Come in.”
I hold the door open for Nikki and then step inside behind her. We follow Selene to the back room and up a narrow set of stairs to her apartment over the shop. The most remarkable thing about Selene’s apartment is how utterly unremarkable it is. Nothing about it screams Witch In Residence. Even the most skittish human would never suspect Selene lives in an extended love affair with the dark arts.
“Did you bring something personal of hers?” Selene asks.
Nikki meekly holds out the sweater and necklace.
“I don’t need all her stuff, hon.” She snatches the gold heart-shaped locket. “This will do.”
She plops down on her ass in the middle of the living room floor without any preamble, candles, or spooky lighting. If I didn’t know her I wouldn’t take this seriously, but she doesn’t need any of the props and spectacle to get shit done.
She holds the necklace in her hands and chants softly, rocking back and forth. Then her eyes go solid white as her head shoots back. I may not be magic in the same way she is magic, but I feel the energy in the room shift, and it seems Nikki feels it as well.
After what seems like a small eternity, Selene comes out of her trance and hands the necklace back to Nikki.
Nikki hesitates.
“It won’t bite you, sweetheart. There’s no scary magic on it or anything. I didn’t hex it if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She tentatively takes the necklace back and puts it in her pocket.
“Well?” I say. “What did you see?”
“Your girl’s alive, and safe enough—for the moment. She’s being kept in a cell. There’s a timer on the wall, which I assume is when he plans to come back for her. Just some old-fashioned psychological torture. I heard some talk from one of the guards. Marcus only bit her tonight to mute your connection. Guess he didn’t know you knew a strong witch. Either way, he’s not going to touch her again until tomorrow night when he rises. He’s waiting for the drugs to wear off.”
“What drugs?”
